Over a century after its grand opening, Tech welcomes the Atlanta Biltmore in Tech Square as a center for innovation and business collaboration.
Built in 1924, the Biltmore served as both a hotel and an apartment complex for dwellers of the metropolitan city.
During the 1960s, competition grew between the Biltmore and other hotels in downtown Atlanta. In 1982, operations concluded and the hotel closed. For many years, this hotel has stood as a “Landmark Building Exterior” for the city, standing as proof of the growth and evolution of the city.
The Georgia Tech Foundation acquired the historic building in June 2016. Almost a decade later, the school has announced that the Biltmore will be another addition to Tech Square.
Tech Square is the Institute’s very own 2.5-million-square-foot innovation and dining district. It is home to over 30 corporate innovation centers, including R&D laboratories and regional technological centers, two upcoming buildings for the Scheller College of Business and the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the premier high-performance computing center Coda building. The Biltmore will house the school’s Office of Technology Licensing, aiming to guide companies commercializing the Institute’s research and expediting the international use of the school’s innovations. The VentureLab will also be in this building, home to the Southeast hub for the National Science Foundation I-Corps.
CREATE-X and Quadrant-i, two Tech idea-realizing programs, will be headquartered in the Biltmore. CREATE-X is Tech’s initiative to realize student startups, which has created over $2.4 billion worth of innovation and plans to launch 1,000 startups annually. Similarly, Quadrant-i transforms research into tangible results and real-world startups by supporting inventors and matching their solutions to customers and the market.
The Startup Scaling Platform will bring mentorship, funding and more support to startups in their early stage — helping them welcome their first 100 customers. The Corporate Engagement Office will join industry leaders with compatible startups, while the Venture Investment Hub will host events joining these two groups. There will also be additional strategic partners aimed at supporting organizations and corporate centers for innovation.
This initiative aligns with the growth of Tech Square as a top-five U.S. technological hub, reinforcing the city’s reputation as a center for innovation and business advancement.
David Tyndall, current CEO of Collaborative Real Estate and an original co-developer of Tech Square, will be overseeing the Biltmore’s redevelopment. *Source* Tyndall calls this reconstruction a “crown jewel of innovation.”
Through integration of academic research, entrepreneurial support and corporate engagement, Tech’s restoration of the Biltmore will not only enhance the school’s position but also Atlanta’s as a national leader in innovation and technology.
“Atlanta is becoming the startup capital of the South, and this next chapter for The Biltmore strengthens our momentum,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.
This project will ensure that the city remains at the forefront of startup creativity and breakthrough research commercialization, reshaping the future of business and technology as it is known.